There are a variety of wiper arms on which wiper blades are provided as original equipment. These various wiper arms have hooks, pins, or other configurations which may connect to the wiper blade with or without connectors. These various configurations have created a problem in the replacement market because wiper blade providers are required to have multiple wiper blade configurations to accommodate all of the existing wiper arms. It is therefore advantageous to have attachment structures that can accommodate a host of arms to reduce the complexity and cost associated with this problem.
The need to attach replacement windshield wiper blades to multiple arms has been addressed to some degree. For example, windshield wiper blades have been designed to work with various hook-type wiper arms having different sizes. Connectors may also be configured to receive either a pin-type arm or a hook arm. While these connectors may increase the usefulness of a given windshield wiper such that it can be used with different wiper arm types, the connectors are often expensive and have a complicated structure that is difficult and time-consuming to manufacture
More recent side pin arms are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,553,607. These side pin arms do not have the reduced radius groove found in traditional pin arms (which was used to lock the pin in place), in favor of a constant-radius pin. Such arms use a locking mechanism with a locking tab that is designed to extend from one side of the wiper blade to the other and secure the arm in place laterally, while the pin secures the wiper blade from longitudinal movement. These wiper arms (sometimes referred to herein as “pin-plus-locking-arm”) are generally provided on vehicles with a specially designed wiper blade that is designed to connect only to that specific type of arm. Thus, when the wiper blade must be replaced, the replacement must generally be done at a car dealership and requires the purchase of an expensive replacement part. Moreover, there are several versions of these pin-plus-locking-arm wiper arms, some of which have varying lengths, locking arms or spacers. Accordingly, an aftermarket provider that offers windshield wipers that are not directed to a specific car must evaluate whether to add a separate connector to accommodate each particular pin-plus-locking-arm wiper arms (in addition to the connectors that accommodate the various size hook arms, traditional pin arms, etc.). This leaves consumers with vehicles having the new pin-plus-locking arm wiper arms with fewer, usually more expensive, alternatives for replacement windshield wipers.
Thus, there is a need for inexpensive connectors that are capable of securing a windshield wiper blade to a variety of arms, including pin-plus-locking-arm wiper arms. In particular, it would be desirable to have a connector that can be attached to a wiper blade that will allow the wiper blade to be locked to a wide variety of these pin-type wiper arms despite their various locking arm mechanisms and regardless of whether the arm includes a spacer. It would also be desirable to have a windshield wiper connector that can be fabricated or molded as a single piece at low-cost, and that can accommodate a wide variety of these pin-type wiper arms. The prior art fails to provide a low-cost windshield wiper connector capable of attachment to a wide variety of these pin-type windshield wiper arms, much less for the purpose of reducing the amounts of inventory parts required to supply a vehicle market that uses a wide variety of pin-type windshield wiper arm types.